Though his appearance may fool some of the more casual fans of the X-Men, Kurt Wagner, otherwise known as Nightcrawler, is actually one of the good guys. And despite his demonic appearance and lineage, Kurt is actually one of the only openly devout members of the Marvel Comics landscape, much less the X-Men team.
Throughout his time as a member of the X-Men, Kurt has gone through many changes when it comes to his understanding of not only his religion but his understanding of just who he is and where exactly he comes from.
10 His Father Is The Demon Azazel
When it comes to the Marvel landscape, there a lot of truly awful father figures. Howard Stark definitely comes to mind, especially with the recent popularity of his son in the MCU. Charles Xavier, while a relatively decent father figure to his many students, probably isn’t winning any Father of the Year awards. But Azazel holds a special place among the horrible dads of Marvel as he set out to specifically impregnate women in order to establish a link between his dimension (the Brimstone Dimension) and Earth-616. Unfortunately for Mystique, Azazel was able to seduce her and use her for just this purpose. Fortunately for the rest of the world, however, the product of this union was Nightcrawler.
9 And His Mother Is Mystique
Throughout her long life, Mystique has remained pretty active as both a criminal and a mutant activist. However, there was a certain point in her life where she was ready to hang up the old blue skin and just settle down, become a normal person with a normal family. So when she met and married Baron Christian Wagner, this seems like the perfect opportunity for her to live the normal life she hoped to lead.
Unfortunately for Mystique, however, her husband was not the ideal lover and was incapable of giving her the children she desired. So, as any sane shapeshifter that wanted children would do, she began turning into the wives of local men and seducing them in order to become pregnant. This was when she was met and seduced by the mutant Azazel who simply wanted to use their child to establish a permanent link to her world.
8 The Strange Limits Of His Teleportation Powers
Because he is linked to his father in the Brimstone Dimension, Nightcrawler’s teleportation ability has some rather abnormal limitations. First, and likely the most important, is that when Nightcrawler teleports, what he’s actually doing is traveling through the Brimstone Dimension and then popping out in a predetermined position in his own dimension. This happens so fast that for a long time, Nightcrawler wasn’t even aware he was doing it. It’s also easier for him to travel north and south (along the Earth’s magnetic fields) than it is east and west. He can typically max out at three miles north-to-south and two miles when moving east-to-west and vice versa.
7 His Children
Though there are definitely some more iconic fathers throughout the Marvel landscape, some fans may be surprised to find out that Nightcrawler is, in fact, a father himself. He may not be much of a father in the main 616 universe, but much like his father, Nightcrawler has been sowing seeds across multiple dimensions.
The Nightcrawler from Earth-1005 had a son named Salamander who would grow up to fight alongside the children of other mutants like Gambit and Storm, Angel and Colossus. This wasn’t his only child, however, as the Nightcrawler of Earth-2182 had a daughter named Nocturne with Scarlet Witch.
6 The New Pope
For as long as Nightcrawler has been around, a crucial element of his character has been the fact that he is one of only a handful of Marvel’s openly devout Catholics, which means he finds himself in the company of Daredevil as well. We may need to examine why Marvel's two most famous openly devout Catholics are both demonic in appearance, but that’s an article for another time. This aspect of his character really came to a head when he became a priest and very nearly became the pope thanks to the Church of Humanity. Their plan was to make him pope and then stage a rapture and blame Kurt and the catholic church. Two birds, as they say. Two doves?
5 Sacrificed Himself To Save Hope Summers
From the day she was born, it was known throughout the whole of the mutant community that Hope Summers was a very special child. Besides being the first mutant born after the M-Day event, she was also an omega-level mutant with limitless potential.
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So, while they were on the run from Bastion, Kurt did everything he could to save Hope. Unfortunately for Kurt, however, Bastion was able to predict one of his moves and Kurt ended up with an arm right through his chest. With his dying move, Kurt teleports Hope from Las Vegas to San Fransisco (about 585 miles).
4 He Has No Soul & Is Therefore Immortal
Because Nightcrawler was such a devout Catholic and a good man, when he sacrificed himself to save Hope Summers he ended up big chillin’ with the deity upstairs in heaven. Go figure. However, being the awful father that he is, Azazel couldn’t even let his son enjoy the afterlife. Since Azazel is linked to all of his children, and Kurt was located in heaven, Azazel was able to mount an attack on heaven itself. In order to stop this attack, however, Kurt gave up his eternal rest (and his soul) and allowed himself to be resurrected. It may have robbed the X-Men’s most devout member of his eternal soul, but it also granted him immortality.
3 He Grew Up In A Circus
While many of Marvel’s mutant had a pretty rough time growing up-- Wolverine killed his father and went on the run, Jean Grey literally experienced her best friend’s death through her perspective, and Hope Summers’ birth led to the death of her mother and everyone else in the hospital-- with the exception of his mother and him being chased out of town by a mob of angry villagers, Kurt actually had a pretty decent childhood.
Sure he was used as an attraction to draw in guests and get money, but he had a pretty good life in the circus.
2 The Image Inducer
For pretty much his entire life, Nightcrawler had struggled with the fact that the way he appeared separated him from not only humanity, but most mutants as well. His demonic features led to a very conflicting set of beliefs and made him a very devout Catholic. However, thanks to Professor X, Nightcrawler was able to at least pass as human when he went out in public with the use of the Image Inducer. This device allowed Nightcrawler to craft an image that he felt suited him and made him more acceptable to the world. This, however, leads to an argument between himself and Wolverine that mirrors the argument Magneto and Mystique have in the First Class films about accepting himself before expecting others to accept him.
1 Bamfs
While Nightcrawler is rather limited when it comes to his teleportation abilities, it is a weakness that he can overcome with the help of the Bamfs. After making a deal with his father’s impish little demon subjects, Kurt was able to use their presence as a sort of homing beacon for when he needed to teleport greater distances than he was normally capable of. They’re so useful, in fact, that they even allow him to teleport across dimensions. Not too shabby for the spawn of a demonic maggot and a changeling.